Interactive broadcasting has of recent times found high popularity. This is undoubtedly due to the ability of such broadcasting to provided heightened enjoyment through the viewers having a sense of involvement. In a known ‘virtual cartoon’ series (The Smithsons produced by Illumina for the TV channel Sky TV in the UK), participant viewers are able to e-mail or post suggestions to the cartoon producer. The producer, a real person, would then determine which content suggestions were to be incorporated into a particular week's episode. For example the suggestions may include plot developments, phrases to be spoken by the cartoon characters, and even for graffiti which would appear in the cartoon environment. A disadvantage of such a production is that a high human input is required to select and incorporate the suggestions.
In a known television series (e.g. “Big Brother”, a UK TV show) a group of people live together in a house and their day-to-day life in the house as they interact with others is watched by viewers using an array of cameras and microphones. Those viewing the series over the Internet are able to vote in support of or against the interests of the people in the house: whether a particular person should be evicted from the house. Automated telephone voting is also possible, as is Internet voting. The viewers are telecommunications/web participants. One costly aspect of such a series is the need to provide food and shelter for the human ‘residents’ of the house. Another is the cost of the production crew: there may be more than a hundred people (e.g. 300) employed to produce the show. The interactivity of the viewer-participants is limited to voting who they want to see evicted next.
In both of the examples given, humans are heavily involved in implementing the viewer-participant selected wishes (and in the case of “Big Brother” the characters are humans and there is no viewer-participation in what they do).